Yoga Lin

Early life

During high school, Lin was the lead singer of a rock band, and was trained under a renowned Taiwanese rock singer, Pei-An Yang (楊培安). He then joined another rock band in his university and continued to perfect his singing techniques and, experimented various music genres. Having never participated in any formal singing contest before, Lin attended the Kaohsiung audition for the first season of a famous TV singing contest in Taiwan, One Million Star.

One Million Star (2007)

In the competition, Lin impressed the judges with his vivid interpretation of Steel Rope Walker (走鋼索的人, originally by James Li or Quan Li, 李泉). His performance was then described as “enchanting”(迷幻) by the hostess of One Million Star, Matilda Tao (陶晶瑩), for both his distinctive, dreamy vocals and his facial expressions. He was also complimented for the consistently good performances. Lin earned "perfect scores" (scoring 20 and above) cumulatively for over five weeks and a grand total of nine "perfect scores" on different occasions. His last five performances, which would count as a final result in the final match, accumulated, 17, 23, 23, 23, 25 points, which adds up to 111. This record would hold until 張心傑， in the fourth season (from 2009/03/06 to 2009/03/20) scored 24, 22, 23, 23, 22, totaling up 114. Lin also earned great recognition for his abilities to perform a wide range of music genres, being able to infuse his own touch into songs as well as his unique taste in song selections.

In the first season finale (broadcast live and nationwide) of One Million Star on July 6, 2007, Lin performed a bold and challenging rendition of Radiohead's classic hit, Creep and he used the opportunity to declare his attitude towards music. A perfect score of 25 was unanimously given by all five professional judges to acknowledge his sincere and stylish interpretation of the song. Along with that, another perfect-scored performance of Eason Chan's Last Order determined him as the winner in the first season of One Million Star.

HIM International Music (2007-present)

After the show, One Million Star, Lin signed a six-year contract with HIM International Music, and released two compilation albums and the soundtrack of TV series Bull Fighting (鬥牛,要不要). In the meanwhile, he participated in many live performances as well as TV commercial shootings. Some of his many endorsements includes the SYM MIO Scooters and a Science Fair held by National Science Council in Taiwan. Recently, he endorsed the Hi-Chew Candy and the HeySong FIN Sports Drink in Taiwan.

In September 2007, Lin performed in Hong Kong with label mate, Tank for several live performances. Later that year, in November and December, he went again to Hong Kong and, Singapore and Malaysia for a promotional tour. On December 29, 2007 Lin, together with other fellow contestants from One Million Star as Judy Chou (周定緯), Peter Pan (潘裕文), Stanly Hsu (許仁杰), and Aska Yang (楊宗緯) performed in their first concert “Superstar Avenue Reunion” in the Sports Center of National Taiwan University. This concert also sets the record in Taiwan for being the shortest amount of time newcomers in the local mandopop scene to hold a concert. This sold-out concert successfully attracted over 4000 audiences. On March 15, 2008, Lin together with fellow record label singers held their first official overseas concert in Genting, Malaysia. On August 3, 2008, Lin and fellow record label singers held two consecutive concerts in Hong Kong, with all 6,000 tickets sold out within 2 days. On October 3, Lin was invited to perform in the 5th Asia Song Festival in Seoul, Korea, and was awarded the Best Taiwan Newcomer Award. On October 25, 2008, Lin won the Annual Popularity Artist and Best Newcomer in Singapore Hit Award. Moreover, his album Mystery Guest won the prestigious Best Producer Award.

Lin’s debut album titled Mystery Guest was released on June 3, 2008 in Taiwan. This album won rave reviews from critics as well as the fans. It was also a commercial success, with more than 40,000 copies sold in the first week, and topped all the major musical and radio charts in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and China. Mystery Guest and Lin are nominated in 6 different categories in the 2008 Singapore Hit Award, including best album, best producer, best male singer, best newcomer, most popular singer, and most popular newcomer, and won the best producer and newcomer awards.

To coincide with his album release, he also held his three nationwide concert tour titled Yoga’s Trick Concert Tour (林宥嘉2008迷宮巡迴演唱會) in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung respectively. He now holds the record of being the youngest recording artist to tour in Taiwan. In this concert tour, he won critical acclaims for his high-caliber repertoire and outstanding stage performance.

Lin held his Yoga's Trick Concert in Hong Kong on January 23 and 24 and both nights' tickets were sold-out. There were four encores on the second night, stretching the concert to over 3 hours. For the sixth and final stop of the concert tour, it was held in Singapore on February 20 with 7000 fans at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. He released his second album, Senses Around on October 30, 2009. His latest and third album, Perfect Life, was released on May 6, 2011 in Taiwan, China and other parts of Asia and he is currently promoting the album. His record company, HIM International Music has also announced that he will be going on concert tour starting August 2011, in cities such as Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, etc.

Singles

Listed in the album Love Star’s Reunion - Yesterday, Now and Tomorrow (愛星光精選˙昨天今天明天). It is Lin’s first single. This single was one of the 2007 Top 13 Love Songs co-organized by KISS Radio and Apple Daily.

Listed in the soundtrack of Taiwan drama’s Bull Fighting (鬥牛˙要不要), it is one of the theme songs in the drama. This melodic and romantic song tells the story about a guy who secretly loved a girl for a long time, but eventually chose to stay in the shadows of the girl because she did not reciprocate his love.

A duet between Lin and Li Yang Liu (劉力揚), the latter shot to fame in the first season (2006) of the singing contest Super Girls (超級女聲) in China. Legend is the sub-theme of a Korean drama First King Four Gods (太王四神記) broadcast in Taiwan, starring the famous Korean TV and movie star, Bae Yong-joon (裴勇俊). This single has been digitally released.

A musical-inspired song composed and written by Chinese singer-songwriter, Li Quan. This is also the opening song of Yoga's Trick Concert Tour and has been digitally released before the official release of Lin's Mystery Guest album.

The theme song for an online game endorsed by Lin in China. It is also featured as a bonus track in Lin's third album, Perfect Life.

Award and nominations